Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has made a $53 million investment in Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. The capital infusion will be used for the airport’s expansion and maintenance projects. Caisse’s investment is part of the airport’s private funding of about $265 million.

TIAA-CREF and GreenWood Resources, which is owned by TIAA-CREF, have launched Global Timber Resources LLC, a $667 million global timber company. Its backers include TIAA General Account, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, AP2 and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. GTRCo will focus on investing in timberland assets in areas that include North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Cirque du Soleil said Monday that TPG Capital is buying a majority holding in the company while Guy Laliberté, Cirque’s founder, will maintain a stake in the business. Fosun Capital Group, owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd., and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec will each have a minority. Financial terms weren’t announced but press reports peg the deal at $1.5 billion. Cirque, a theatrical production company, will retain its headquarters in Montréal. Goldman Sachs advised Cirque.

Energy services group Spie pulled its plan to raise funds on the stock market on Thursday, cancelling what would have been France’s biggest listing since before the financial crisis as investor appetite wanes, Reuters reported.

A consortium led by Swedish private equity firm EQT is in the final stage of talks to buy Australia’s I-MED, writes Reuters. Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Singapore’s GIC will be investing alongside EQT.

Wynnchurch Capital of Montreal has joined forces with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to make an equity investment in Groupe Moreau, a Quebec-based contractor specializing in electrical, structural, piping and mechanical services in the industrial sector. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. PRESS RELEASE: Wynnchurch Capital has joined forces with the […]

SPIE has announced an offering of 375 million euro ($500.9 million) senior notes due 2019 by SPIE Bondco 3 S.C.A., its indirect parent company. The proceeds of the offering will be used to repay amounts outstanding on a bridge loan facility used to finance the acquisition of Financière SPIE by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, AXA […]

Onex Corp. is teaming up with Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, the Canadian pension plan, to make a bid for AXA PE, two sources say. KKR is still interested while several sources confirm that BlackRock has dropped out.

Pricing for AXA PE is aggressive and has caused some “natural players” to bow out, one banker says. The Carlyle Group, which agreed to buy a 60% stake in AlpInvest Partners earlier this year, was expected to vie for AXA PE.

As AXA gears up for a possible sale of its private equity unit, executives at the company could find themselves borrowing from The Carlyle Group’s playbook. AXA Private Equity, and particularly its chief executive, Dominique Senequier, are known to be seeking a management-led buyout financed in large part by one of its suitors.
[caption id="attachment_121431" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Dominique Senequier"][/caption]
Such a structure is exactly what Carlyle agreed to when it acquired a 50 percent voting stake (and 60 percent of the equity) in AlpInvest Partners, one of Europe’s largest fund-of-fund managers, earlier this year. For Carlyle, the merger helped to diversify its slate of businesses, and more importantly, helped to increase its tally of assets under management prior to its expected IPO next year.

For AXA Private Equity’s investors, a management-led buyout would offer incentives for keeping employees on board, something especially crucial in an era of “key-man” provisions. Senequier’s preference for a management-led buyout was first reported in the Financial Times.

TouchTunes Interactive Networks, a digital jukebox maker, has completed a $45 million Series E funding round that gives the company a pre-money valuation of $300 million, TouchTunes CEO Charles Goldstruck told peHUB. 3i, the UK-based PE firm, is investing $40 million in the company, while VantagePoint Capital Partners, which owns a majority of TouchTunes, is […]

Canadian pension fund manager Caisse De Depot Et Placement Du Quebec intends to sell almost $800 million in private equity funds, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The funds come in the form of buyout and venture-capital funds. According to the WSJ, the deal may be completed with third-party financing. It also points out that Caisse backs managers including Accel Partners, AXA Private Equity, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Wynnchurch Capital, BC Partners and Genstar Capital. More here …

Canada’s biggest pension fund manager, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, said on Thursday its assets under management had recovered nearly 10 percent of their value in 2009, but were still below pre-crisis levels.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec announced a multibillion-dollar borrowing plan on Friday to refinance the giant Canadian pension fund’s short-term debt as it fortifies balance sheets decimated by the global crisis. The Montreal-based Caisse, once Canada’s biggest pension fund manager by far, said the refinancing program could see it issue […]

TORONTO (Reuters) – Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, one of Canada’s biggest pension fund managers, said on Thursday it had hired a new chief investment officer, in its latest management move since it announced multibillion-dollar losses earlier this year. The Caisse, which managed C$120.1 billion ($111 billion) in assets at the end of […]